A. To Block Malicious Traffic
Honeypots are not Inline Prevention Systems (IPS). While they can provide intelligence that leads to blocking (by identifying an attacker's IP address), the honeypot itself does not sit at the gateway to stop traffic.

The Interaction: In fact, a honeypot does the opposite—it invites traffic. If you were to block the malicious traffic, you would defeat the purpose of the honeypot, which is to allow the attacker to interact with the decoy so you can observe their behavior.

B. To Monitor and Learn From Attackers
This is the fundamental definition of a honeypot. It is a decoy system designed to be probed, attacked, or compromised.

The "Value of Zero": A key CISSP concept is that a honeypot has "no production value." This means any traffic hitting the honeypot is, by definition, suspicious or malicious.

Gathering Intelligence: By observing the attacker, security teams can identify TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures). They can see which zero-day exploits are being used, what files are being targeted, and where the attacker attempts to move laterally. This intelligence is then used to harden the actual production environment.

C. To Backup Data
Honeypots are intentionally vulnerable systems. Using them to store or back up legitimate corporate data would be a catastrophic security failure.

The "High-Interaction" Risk: High-interaction honeypots run real operating systems and services. If an attacker compromises a honeypot and finds actual sensitive data, the tool meant to protect the organization has now become a source of data leakage.

D. To Offload Legitimate Traffic
Honeypots should never interact with legitimate users.

The Distortion of Data: If legitimate traffic were directed to a honeypot, it would create "noise," making it impossible for security analysts to distinguish between a confused employee and a malicious hacker.

Load Balancing vs. Deception: Offloading traffic is the job of a Load Balancer or a Content Delivery Network (CDN). A honeypot is a siloed environment that should remain invisible to the average authorized user.

Key Takeaway for the CISSP Exam
Strategic Insight: Honeypots are Detective Controls. They provide "early warning" and "threat intelligence." When multiple honeypots are linked together to simulate an entire network, they are referred to as a Honeynet.